Eco-towns: The new town that got back to nature

The Independent 12 Mar 08;

"The Wildlife Trusts welcome the idea of eco-towns but, to be truly sustainable, they need to be about much more than simply building zero-carbon homes,"

There are deer in the woods, geese on the lakes and flowers in the meadows – shouldn't all eco-towns be built like this? Adharanand Finn reports on how developers created the perfect family habitat

When Rachael and Simon Mortimer first went to look around the newly built Cambourne development in Cambridgeshire three years ago, what impressed them most was the network of cycle paths and the number of families they saw using them.

"We're a family that likes to be outdoors," says Rachael, who has three young children, "and we were looking to move somewhere where we had the freedom to be able to get out and about without needing the car."

The footpaths and cycle lanes in Cambourne are certainly well-used, with the majority of the children in the area walking to school every day. The most impressive thing about the development, however, emerges when you pause on one of these many pathways and remain still. For among the woodlands and on the lakes, this new town boasts a huge abundance of wildlife.

Cambourne was built on rural farmland in the 1990s. It has more than 5,000 houses, a Morrisons, a library, two primary schools, a doctor's surgery and all the other amenities expected of a thriving residential community. No one has branded Cambourne an eco-town – these houses do not boast the highest possible energy efficiency or solar cells and wind turbines. But having nature on your doorstep is something that ecologists will rate as highly as any families. And on this criterion, Cambourne has set the agenda: there is now more wildlife here than before the developers moved in.

This month, the Government will announce the names of 12 to 15 sites shortlisted to become eco-towns. From the line-up, 10 will be built. The protests will be familiar to all by now: residents of nearby towns have drawn attention to the strain on local roads, schools and hospitals. But the national network of Wildlife Trusts is concerned about a more specific problem: the annihilation of valuable habitats.

The Wildlife Trusts' chief executive, Stephanie Hilborne, recently let fly at the Government's plans, saying the proposals made "a mockery" of the term "eco-town". "The Wildlife Trusts welcome the idea of eco-towns but, to be truly sustainable, they need to be about much more than simply building zero-carbon homes," she said.

Brian Eversham, conservation director for the Wildlife Trust of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough, which has its offices in Cambourne, says that Cambourne is proof that new developments can work around wildlife. His walk to work is alive with birdsong. "There are blackbirds, song thrushes, robins, wrens, mistle thrushes, blue tits and great tits, goldfinches and greenfinches all singing away, and occasionally a male great spotted woodpecker drumming. It's a lovely way to start the day, and I think many local residents enjoy the same experience."

Rachael Mortimer agrees. She says she has noticed there are a lot of birds, and she has even seen a few deer. But most of the wildlife lives happily and shyly away from view of its human neighbours. Among the species thriving most successfully are water voles, skylarks, great crested newts, dragonflies and even badgers.

The miracle of Cambourne is relatively easily explained. As well as houses and a business park, the development incorporates natural features such as wetlands, wooded areas and meadows into its design. These provide more wildlife habitats than the fields of oilseed rape that were there before. And, crucially, these habitats are all linked together by wildlife corridors.

Eversham explains that the "wildlife highways", as he calls them, are key to the long-term success of green spaces in places such as Cambourne, and are vital for helping wildlife adapt to climate change in the future.

"Without linkages, each patch of woodland, each meadow, each pond or lake is isolated and has to be self-sufficient," he says. "If a particular plant or animal has a bad breeding season – which is very likely, given the changing weather patterns associated with global warming – it could knock out a population, and the species will never make it back to the habitat."

Over time, he explains, each "island" of habitat will gradually but inevitably lose its wildlife, no matter how good the habitat is, or how well managed. In a well-connected landscape, however, the full range of wildlife can wander around and refind lost habitats. It is a principle Terry Farrell and Partners employed in its master-planning process when the development was first conceived.

The existing natural features were mapped out with the help of the Wildlife Trusts, including three areas of existing woodland, six ponds and a number of old hedges and watercourses. These were then linked together with footpaths, cycleways and with larger areas of new meadows, woodlands and wetlands. Only when this green infrastructure was in place did the masterplan allocate areas for housing and for the business park. The result has not only seen wildlife flourish in the area, but has found residents willing to enjoy it.

"At the weekend you'll see families walking to the supermarket through the woods and meadows," says Eversham. There are not many housing developments that can make that claim.

The whole project has been so successful that the Wildlife Trusts are holding it up as an example of how the needs of the local ecology can be incorporated into new developments.

While the Government's Eco-towns Prospectus, its "vision" for the proposed developments, talks a lot about renewable energy, zero-carbon buildings, and support for local communities and local businesses, there is very little mention of protecting the local wildlife.

"This could be disastrous," says the Wildlife Trusts' planning manager Fiona Mahon, "leading to the destruction of habitats as well as natural drainage systems, which can in turn cause problems with flooding."

The Government defends its proposals, and calls the criticism "scaremongering". A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government points to what he calls a "rigorous process for the selection of bids".

"They [the proposals] must meet tough tests proving they make best use of brownfield land, safeguard local wildlife and habitat areas and provide low- and zero-carbon technologies and good public-transport systems," he says. "There will be extensive consultation with green groups and residents before any decisions are made." However, with the shortlisted towns due to be announced within the next few weeks, this has yet to happen.

The developers, too, insist there is nothing to worry about. The Co-operative Group, whose Pennbury eco-town proposal in Leicestershire is being strongly opposed by a local campaign group with the backing of senior academic figures, denies the accusations levelled at it. Its argument is similar to the Government's, that nothing will be given the go-ahead without proper consultation.

A spokesman for the Co-operative Group says that if its bid is shortlisted, it will be required to draw up a formal planning application "with supporting environmental impact assessment for consideration through the normal planning process. We would certainly seek to consult the Wildlife Trusts at that stage."

He adds that since the eco-town concept is based around the environment and sustainability, "biodiversity will come under very close scrutiny".

This may be so, but there does seem to be a perverse logic about the Government selecting the 10 towns before any consultations have taken place. This is what worries the Wildlife Trusts.

Mahon acknowledges that the plans will have to go through the standard planning process, including consulting local and special-interest groups, but she says that this should be done before the shortlist is selected.

"If the Government has already selected and announced the proposals, and it is providing funding for them, then there will be a lot of pressure on the planners to pass them," she says.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England agrees with this line of argument, pointing out that once the Government has put its seal of approval on projects, it will be difficult for local authorities to object to them or to justify taking expensive legal action to fight the plans.

The secrecy surrounding the selection process for the eco-towns, some of which may involve the building of up to 20,000 houses, has done little to allay these fears, and instead has meant local opposition groups have grown up where virtually every proposed site is suspected. The logic of their concerns is easy to understand – that any development on greenfield sites can only be bad for the local environment. One banner at a recent demonstration about a proposed eco-town development in Warwickshire, on the edge of the Cotswolds, read: "6,000 homes on greenbelt = eco disaster".

Cambourne is a living example of how this doesn't have to be the case. But without proper consultation and planning, the champions of Cambourne, the Wildlife Trusts, are worried that the Government's eco-towns may well become eco-disasters, especially for the local wildlife.

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Dolphin rescues stranded whales: conservation official

David Brooks, Yahoo News 12 Mar 08;

A dolphin guided two stranded whales to safety after human attempts to keep the animals off a New Zealand beach failed, a conservation official said Wednesday.

"I've never heard of anything like this before, it was amazing," Conservation Department officer Malcolm Smith said.

The actions of the dolphin, well known locally for playing with swimmers at Mahia beach on the east coast of the North Island, probably meant the difference between life and death for the whales, Smith told AFP.

Smith had been working for over an hour and a half to save the two pygmy sperm whales which had repeatedly become stranded despite his attempts to push them back out to sea.

A bottlenose dolphin, named Moko by locals, appeared and guided the whales to safety after apparently communicating with them, Smith said.

The whales, a three-metre (10-foot) female and her 1.5 metre male calf, were apparently confused by a sandbar just off the beach and could not find their way back to open water.

Smith had been alerted at daybreak on Monday by a neighbour about the two stranded whales on Mahia beach near his home.

"Over the next hour and a half I pushed them back out to sea two or three times and they were very reluctant to move offshore," Smith said.

"I was starting to get cold and wet and they were becoming tired. I was reaching the stage where I was thinking it's about time to give up here, I've done as much as I can."

In that situation, whales are often humanely killed to end their suffering.

Smith said Moko arrived on the scene and he could hear the whales and the dolphin making noises, apparently to one another.

"The whales made contact with the dolphin and she basically escorted them about 200 metres (yards) parallel with the beach to the edge of the sandbar.

"Then she did a right-angle turn through quite a narrow channel and escorted them out to sea.

"There's been no sign of the whales since Monday, they haven't restranded."

"What the communication was I do not know, and I was not aware dolphins could communicate with pygmy sperm whales, but something happened that allowed Moko to guide those two whales to safety."

Moko has become famous for her antics at Mahia, which include playing in the surf with swimmers, approaching boats to be patted and pushing kayaks through the water with her snout.

Such close interaction with humans is rare among dolphins but not unknown. "She's become isolated from her pod obviously for one reason or another, but obviously made Mahia home just at the moment."

Mahia gets up to 30 whale strandings a year, most of which end with the whales having to be put down.

"I don't know if next time we have a whale stranding we can get her to come in again. She certainly saved the day for us and the whales this time."

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Tuna threatened by oversized fishing fleet: WWF

Reuters 12 Mar 08;

ROME (Reuters) - There are far too many boats fishing for tuna in the Mediterranean, putting further strain on stocks of a species already threatened with extinction, environmental group WWF said in a report published on Wednesday.

Atlantic bluefin tuna, sometimes described as "floating goldmines" due to their spectacular price tag when sold for sushi, are under threat from over-fishing and an international agreement sets quotas on how many each country can land.

But in a study into the number and size of fishing vessels, WWF, formerly the World Wildlife Fund, found there were at least one third more boats than needed to meet legal quotas.

"It is crazy," said WWF's Sergi Tudela. "The numerous new fleets are so modern and costly that fishermen are forced to fish illegally just to survive -- and worse still they are fishing themselves out of a job."

Atlantic bluefin tuna, which spawn in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean, can be worth $10,000-15,000 each in Japan, where they are eaten raw as sushi.

WWF said the quotas, agreed at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), are too lax to protect the fish, but even those limits are being flouted.

The conservation group said many countries, including Italy, Spain, Croatia and Libya, do not declare their full catches of tuna -- circumventing the quotas which are meant to ensure the species survives massive demand from gourmets.

While the actual amount of over-fishing can be hard to estimate, the size of the fleet indicates it must be happening on a large scale. WWF said the Mediterranean fleet should shed 229 of its 617 vessels to remain within the quotas.

"At a minimum, the report shows, Mediterranean fleets would have to fish 42,000 tons of tuna just to cover costs -- implying some 13,000 tons of illegal catch," it said.

The group -- which is promoting a boycott of bluefin tuna among consumers, restaurants and retailers -- said the European Union had granted 18 million euros of subsidies into growing the tuna fishing fleet between 1993 and 2006.

(Reporting by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Bloated Mediterranean tuna fleet in race for the last bluefin
WWF website 12 Mar 08;

Rome, Italy – The most comprehensive analysis yet of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fleet shows it conservatively having twice the fishing capacity of current quotas and more than three and a half times the catch levels recommended by scientists to avoid stock collapse.

The fleet is so bloated that just covering its costs implies that a third of its fishing would be illegal, with the worst over-capacity culprits being Turkey, Italy, Croatia, Libya, France and Spain.

The new WWF report, Race for the last bluefin, "uncovers the absurdity of a system long out of control, where hundreds of hi-tech boats are racing to catch a handful of fish,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean.

“The failure of international fisheries management has allowed a monster to thrive in the Mediterranean. Decision-makers must be bold if the bluefin is to be saved from a sorry fate – and for any chance of a future for Mediterranean tuna fishermen.”

To keep fishing capacity within the 2008 legal catch limits imposed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the Mediterranean fleet would need to shed 229 vessels – almost a third of the current 617-vessel fleet.

Reducing fishing effort to scientifically recommended levels, meanwhile, would require decommissioning 283 vessels, including 58 in European Union Member States.

In Italy – worst culprit among EU countries – the fleet should be reduced by over 30 vessels to respect scientific recommendations, or 17 just to stay within the law. The WWF report indicates that high levels of under-reporting by Italy are also likely, as its reported catches have dramatically decreased since 1997 – yet during the past decade the Italian fleet has increased considerably in size and power. Croatia, Spain and Libya are also under the spotlight for under-reporting.

At a minimum, the report shows Mediterranean fleets would have to fish 42,000 tonnes of tuna just to cover costs – implying some 13,000 tonnes of illegal catch. This calculation considers only the more technically advanced vessels built in the past decade – the full picture will be much worse yet.

“It is crazy – the numerous new fleets are so modern and costly that fishermen are forced to fish illegally just to survive – and worse still they are fishing themselves out of a job,” added Dr Tudela.

WWF is calling on concerned countries to dramatically reduce capacity in this fishery as a matter of urgency ahead of the 2008 fishing season that starts end-April. WWF also urges ICCAT, the body tasked with sustainably managing the fishery, to take a lead in proposing radical solutions. Until the fishery is under control and sustainably managed, WWF continues to advocate a fishing ban – and to applaud responsible retailers, restaurants, chefs and consumer groups who are boycotting Mediterranean bluefin in increasing numbers.

“The fishery is unsustainable in every way – economically, socially, and ecologically. The time to act is now – while there are still bluefin tuna to save in the Mediterranean,” Dr Tudela said.

In spite of the overcapacity of fleets, at least 25 new purse seine vessels were still being constructed at time of going to press.

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Australia kangaroo cull prompts international protest

Rob Taylor, Reuters 11 Mar 08;

The cull, Garrett said, would not damage Australia's anti-whaling campaign, which has angered Japan amid international efforts to close a loophole permitting scientific whaling.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A British animal protection group is using the face of former Beatle Paul McCartney in an international campaign against a planned cull of hundreds of kangaroos on an Australian military base.

As demonstrators on Wednesday promised human shields to protect the animals, McCartney appeared on a website set up by the British animal welfare group Viva! to condemn the cull of up to 500 animals using tranquillizer darts and lethal injection.

"There is an urgent need for action to protect kangaroos from a barbaric industry which slaughters them for meat and leather," McCartney said in an undated message.

"Please do all you can to help Viva! end this shameful massacre."

The eastern grey kangaroos, which feature on Australia's coat of arms, are living on a military communications base in the nation's capital Canberra.

Authorities say the animals, on death row since May last year, threaten other local species through overgrazing.

Wildlife Protection Association spokesman Pat O'Brien said the cull of animals synonymous with Australia could damage tourism and promised human shields to protect them, with barricades and demonstrations to be set up on Thursday.

"I'm sure there will be people standing in front of the dart guns," O'Brien told Australian radio.

Viva!, or Vegetarians International Voice for Animals, said it had launched a Europe-wide campaign against the cull and by Wednesday had gathered more than 1,300 protest signatures from 36 countries on an Australian-based web page.

The petition, which had photographs of kangaroos in rifle crosshairs, included supporters from Spain, England, the United States, Switzerland, France, Canada, South Africa and Germany.

In 2004 there was an international outcry over the shooting of 900 kangaroos at a dam supplying water to Canberra. The animals were causing erosion problems through grazing.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett, a former head of Australia's conservation movement, said he would not intervene.

"Programs like this, humanely and properly administered, are sometimes necessary," he told reporters.

The cull, Garrett said, would not damage Australia's anti-whaling campaign, which has angered Japan amid international efforts to close a loophole permitting scientific whaling.

But Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown said it would bring "further notoriety" for Australia's treatment of wildlife.

"(Prime Minister) Kevin Rudd could begin by saving those kangaroos and making sure they are transported to a safe haven ... rather than be given a deadly injection and left as a heap on the ground," he said.

(Editing by Jerry Norton)

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Thawing ice threatens China Yellow River flood

Reuters 11 Mar 08;

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's northern region of Inner Mongolia is on high alert against a severe flood threat caused by ice blocking the Yellow River during the spring thaw, state media said.

More than 70,000 people in the region were on standby for rescue and disaster relief efforts along the frozen 720-km (450-mile) stretch of China's second longest river, known as "China's sorrow" for its frequent flooding.

"The People's Liberation Army's air force and artillery troops have also joined the flood prevention operation," Xinhua news agency said. "Blasting will be carried out if there are any big ice blockages on the river."

Sections of the river freeze and thaw at different times. If a blockage persists, water levels may rise and cause flooding and dam bursts, threatening lives and property. The ice-run phenomenon happens at the start of winter and spring.

The river's ice flood was the heaviest in 40 years, Xinhua said.

"Low-quality dams in certain sections have worsened the situation," it said.

The Yellow River in Inner Mongolia began to melt on Tuesday after a full thawing of the upper stretch in neighboring Ningxia autonomous region.

The 5,464-km Yellow River originates in Qinghai province in the northwest and flows through Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong before emptying into the Bohai Sea.

In Qinghai, 14 Tibetan herdsmen, including a 9-day-old baby, were rescued on Tuesday after being trapped on a snow-covered mountain for 40 days, Xinhua said.

The herdsmen were well except for a 63-year-old who suffered snow blindness, according to rescuers. The baby and his mother were sent to hospital for observation.

(Reporting by Nick Macfie; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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London to light way with LEDs

Geoffrey Lean, The Independent 9 Mar 08;

London yesterday launched an attempt to become the first city in the world to be lit by LEDs – light-emitting diodes. The city aims to install LEDs in all its street lights within five years.

Nicky Gavron, the deputy mayor, yesterday unveiled four demonstration projects – in Potters Field Park, near City Hall in Southwark, and on footpaths in Greenwich and Barnet. Another 10 projects will be rolled out across the capital this year. "We hope that all lighting in residential streets will be LED by the end of 2012," she said.

LED lighting, which is generated from energy-efficient crystals on a superconductor chip, uses up to 40 per cent less energy than current street lights, but gives twice as much vision from side to side, and eliminates pools of darkness.

Ms Gavron said that LEDs would help make the city's streets much safer at night, especially for women.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 12 Mar 08

Your story ideas for Ubin requested
for upcoming feature articles on the ubin stories blog

Norman Lim co-authors a paper about Colugos
on the raffles museum news blog

Review of Once Upon a Tree episode 4
a fabulous and fast-uploaded review on the wonderful creations blog

Encounter with 'White-faced' Plover at Changi
a new species? on the bird ecology blog

Huang Danwei secures a Young Explorers grant from National Geographic way to go Danwei! on The Biodiversity crew @ NUS blog


Chestnut Anglea rare pretty butterfly on the butterflies of singapore blog

World's largest cruise ships to dock at Marina South by 2010
on the wildfilms blog

The Malacca Tree
on the manta blog

The Forgotton Orchid - Dendrobium crumenatum
on the manta blog

Story of Stuff logs 2 million views
on the story of stuff blog

Read more!

Singapore set to host world's largest cruise ships by 2010

Channel NewsAsia 12 Mar 08;

SINGAPORE: The world's largest cruise ships currently being built are set to dock in Singapore by 2010, when the new International Cruise Terminal at Marina South is expected to be completed.

The new terminal will double the number of cruise berths in the country to four, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said at the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention 2008 in Miami, USA on Tuesday.

STB said the terminal will also be able to host the Genesis-class cruise ships, which have an expected capacity of about 5400 passengers.

The International Cruise Terminal at Marina South has deep waters, a large turning basin and no height restrictions, enabling it to accommodate the largest cruise ships currently being built.

Together with the current Singapore Cruise Centre, STB said it expects the new terminal to increase the country's cruise passenger handling capacity and achieve the targeted 1.6 million cruise passengers per annum by 2015.

Last year, the Singapore Cruise Centre reported a cruise passenger volume of over 943,000, an increase of more than 10 per cent over the 857,000 passengers in 2006.

STB also said Singapore will be the port of call for a host of ships in 2008, including Cunard's Queen Victoria on her maiden world cruise, and ships from Princess Cruises, P&O, Oceania Cruises, Holland America Line and Crystal Cruises. - CNA/ac

Mega cruise ship terminal ready in 2010
Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 13 Mar 08;

SINGAPORE is powering up its cruise business with a second terminal at Marina South capable of berthing the world's largest ocean liners.

It will be ready in 2010, giving it a two-year jump-start over competitor ports such as Hong Kong, which is also constructing new berths.

The Singapore Cruise Centre at HarbourFront had close to one million people passing through it last year, about 10 per cent more than the year before.

The proposed International Cruise Terminal, with two berths, will help Singapore meet its 1.6 million cruise passenger target by 2015, said Singapore Tourism Board chief Lim Neo Chian on Tuesday, at the annual Seatrade Cruise Shopping Convention in Miami in the United States.

Talk of a new terminal has been in the air for at least a decade when it became clear that the HarbourFront site was unable to host premium ocean liners like Royal Caribbean Cruises' Rhapsody Of The Seas that sailed into Asia for its inaugural journey last December.

Every year, HarbourFront receives 500 calls from ships which fall below the 52m height restriction to get under the Sentosa cable car lines that cross the bay.

Passengers of top-end liners, which can reach a height of over 70m, now have to disembark at the Pasir Panjang Container Terminal - a less than stylish welcome to Singapore.

Last year alone, the container port was used by cruise ships about 25 times due to berthing shortages or size restrictions.

Mr Melvyn Yap of Silversea Cruises, said passengers spend as much as US$100,000 (S$138,592) on round-the-world cruises.

He said: 'It just does not reflect well when the first view these high-end customers get of the country is the container port, does it?'

Without a second terminal, Singapore risks falling behind in the race for Asian cruise passengers, which is expected to hit 2.02 million by 2015, according to Ocean Shipping Consultants.

Bids flow in for work on new cruise terminal
STB could announce winners next month amid project's tight time frame
Vincent Wee, Business Times 13 Mar 08;

(SINGAPORE) The International Cruise Terminal at Marina South will soon start taking shape. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) could reveal by next month exactly who has been awarded the tender for engineering work on the terminal and who will be in charge of architectural design.

STB, the lead agency for the project, yesterday announced that it had received four proposals for engineering work while three consortia had bid for architectural design work. STB disclosed that the tenders had closed recently.

Engineering proposals were received from Jurong Consultants, Surbana Corporation, Maunsell & Partners and Parsons Brinckerhoff, STB said. Meanwhile, three consortia comprising BEA International and CPG Consultants; Bermello Ajamil and RSP Architects and Engineers; and DMJM Design and DP Architects had put forward proposals for architectural design. Each consortia tied a Singapore firm with 'an internationally renowned firm with notable cruise terminal planning experience', said STB.

There was no indication of when the tenders were held, whether they were open or closed tenders or whether there was any pre-qualifying criteria specified. STB was unable to respond by press time. A source from an architectural firm said bids were invited about three weeks ago and had closed last week. None of the groups have made presentations yet, she added.

'The proposals for both tenders are being evaluated and the winning parties are expected to be announced next month,' STB said. Last month, Minister of State for Trade and Industry S Iswaran had announced a firm completion date of 2010 for the terminal.

STB's technical agent for the project is government industrial estate developer JTC Corporation. JTC has already called a tender for the piling and construction of the terminal's berth deck with work scheduled to begin in June. JTC deferred to STB on more specific details about the various tenders.

STB also said: 'Singapore will also be appointing an operator for the terminal and calling for a tender for construction of the terminal building and carpark in the third quarter of this year.' Construction work on the terminal is targeted to start in the fourth quarter.

STB's statement left open the question of retail space in the terminal. 'Ancillary commercial services are envisaged to also be provided with the terminal building,' it said.

An industry source said that the project's tight time frame could have prompted the tender to be floated in this manner. JTC effectively functions as the main contractor, dishing out contracts for the various components with the government footing most of the cost.

BEA International has experience in cruise centre developments in North America and Spain and has done work on the Shanghai Cruise Terminal master-plan. The firm also conducted a feasibility study and cost/benefit analysis in 2002 for the Port of Singapore for developing what was dubbed a '30-acre mixed use waterfront district called the Marina South Cruise Centre', according to its website. CPG Consultants was recently appointed to provide concept design consultancy services for a mixed-use development in Beijing.

Bermello Ajamil has wide international experience in cruise terminals in North America, Europe and Dubai. It is the master architect for the massive Dubai Maritime City project. In addition, it was retained by the Hong Kong Tourism Board to conduct a study in 2006 to assess the current terminal facility and define plans, operating criteria and tenders for a new terminal.

The tender for Hong Kong's new cruise terminal at the former Kai Tak Airport closed on Friday with two bidders for the 50-year design-build-operate franchise. The winner is expected to be announced in the second quarter.

Question over who will operate two new berths
A tender may eventually be called, says source
Business Times 13 Mar 08;

(SINGAPORE) With the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) coming out to say that the two berths at the new cruise centre at Marina South will complement the current two berths at the Cruise Centre (SCC) at HarbourFront, the question now is who will operate them.

STB has said the government will appoint an operator, but a source revealed that this 'is not cast in stone'. Details have not been finalised and a tender may eventually be called, the source added.

The crux of the issue is whether Asian cruise giant Star Cruises, whose parent Genting International will ultimately run the integrated resort across the channel from HarbourFront, will be willing to berth some of its ships at the new terminal.

Genting will be concerned about a potential conflict of interest arising from its Star Cruises ships, with their onboard casinos and attendant gaming clientele, berthing at a cruise terminal so close to the operations of rival Sands' upcoming resort and casino at Marina Bay.

While Genting might be more worried about leakage, other cruise operators would like to ensure that their biggest and most luxurious ships can dock quickly and conveniently and that their passengers get on and off efficiently and in comfort.

An estimated 5 per cent of cruise ships visiting Singapore have to dock at PSA's Pasir Panjang container terminal because they are too long or too high for SCC's existing berths. Star Cruises ships, however, do not suffer the same size restrictions the other cruise lines do.

The new facilities will be able to berth ships of up to 220,000 GRT, 360 metres long and with a draft of 11.5 metres, making them capable of handling the largest current and future generations of cruise vessels.

Genting was reportedly in talks with SCC on a possible cruise ship tie-up as part of its bid in 2006 for the integrated resort project on Sentosa. The discussion then was to add two new berths so three or four ships could dock at the same time.

After Genting won the bid to build the resort, such talk dwindled, and the subject of a new cruise terminal at Marina South was resurrected.

It is understood that SCC is licensed to operate the present cruise terminal at HarbourFront until 2027.

Industry sources say, however, that a tie-up on some kind of an exclusive arrangement with Star, or even the possibility of Star taking over operations at SCC, would be a logical next step. Star declined to comment.

'At this juncture, we are studying the details and evaluating our options,' said Jean Teo, Star Cruises senior vice-president, sales and marketing.

Silversea Cruises regional director for Asia Melvyn Yap said: 'I wouldn't be surprised if such was the case, as their casino is a stone's throw away.'

Related articles
Marina South cruise centre to open in 2010
Natalie Soh & Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 1 Feb 08;

Read more!

Monkey Mayhem in Bukit Timah

AVA MAN TO THE RESCUE
They crawl along wires...
They jump on roof...
They fight with family and maids over trapped baby monkey

Arul John, The New Paper 12 Mar 08;

THEY wanted to hit back at the monkeys which had been tormenting them for three months.

So the occupants of a semi-detached house in Binjai Park, Bukit Timah, decided to set a trap for the pests. They succeeded in trapping a baby monkey in a cage provided by the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

What they didn't take into account was how the other monkeys would react to one of their own being trapped.

A troop of them descended on the house and created nearly three hours of monkey mayhem. Some gathered around the cage howling and screeching. One of the bigger ones even entered the house, baring its teeth, and chased its occupants up to the bedroom.

The elderly home-owners and their two maids ended up barricading themselves in the hall and kitchen while they waited for help.

The incident ended only after AVA officers arrived to take away the trapped monkey.

It had capped a conflict between man and beast that had started in December.

One of the maids, Madam P Nayana, 54, said groups of long-tailed monkeys had been bothering them regularly.

She said they usually came in groups of three or four and entered the house by climbing up the electrical wires outside or the trees in the garden.

GRAB FOOD FROM KITCHEN

Madam Nayana said: 'The monkeys would go to to the kitchen and grab the sweet potatoes or bananas there. Sometimes, they would go to the hall and grab the mandarin oranges left there from Chinese New Year.

'They would then go to the garden to eat the food.'

Madam Nayana said her 72-year-old employer, whom she knew only as Mrs Lee, decided to get a cage from the AVA to trap the monkeys.

She said: 'She got the cage on 11 Jan and we put it out in the garden. We placed bananas and oranges inside and outside the cage to lure the monkeys.

'But they were smart and only ate the food outside the cage.'

Then, at 4.30pm on 29 Feb, Madam Nayana was watching TV when she heard a loud click.

She said: 'I went to the hall and saw a baby monkey in the cage. It had gone in to eat the oranges in the cage and got trapped.

'There were nine other monkeys in the garden and some started howling when the monkey was caught.'

The Lees' other maid, Ms Juliet Castaneda, 33, and Madam Nayana's daughter, Miss E. Nirosha, 23, were at the back of the house when they heard the commotion.

Ms Castaneda said: 'I was gathering the laundry outside when I saw one of the monkeys above the trellis where I had hung the clothes. I got scared and went to the kitchen, but was shocked to see one of the monkeys at the kitchen doorway.'

Miss Nirosha, a student at a private school here, said the monkey was about 45cm tall, had a banana in its mouth and bared its sharp teeth.

Madam Nayana grabbed a wooden walking stick and hit it on the tiled floor to frighten the monkey away, but it went after her instead.

She said: 'I ran upstairs but the monkey started to follow me. Mr Lee was sleeping in a bedroom downstairs and Mrs Lee was in an upstairs room.

'She came out upon hearing the commotion and was shocked and scared when she saw the monkey. We tried to chase it away but the monkey bared its teeth again and chased us upstairs again.'

Ms Nirosha said: 'It then tried to go back into the kitchen but Ms Castaneda and I ran in and closed the door, leaving the monkey outside. I was so scared as monkeys in my homeland, Sri Lanka, are not so aggressive.'

Madam Nayana said Mrs Lee then called the AVA and went downstairs to close the wooden doors between the garden and living room.

She said: 'We tried to close the doors to stop the other monkeys from entering the house, but the big monkey rushed there and jumped in and out between the living room and the garden.'

Miss Nirosha said: 'Every time my mother tried to close the doors, the monkey would come between them and bare its teeth. After she beat the floor with a stick several times, the monkey fled to the garden and we closed the doors.'

When Madam Nayana went to one of the bedrooms on the ground floor, she saw another monkey climbing onto the window sill.

She said: 'The monkey tried to get in but the window grilles blocked it. I jabbed at it with a stick for a few minutes before it finally climbed down.'

Madam Nayana said she and MsCastaneda then closed the other doors and windows and did not re-open them until 7pm.

Nobody was bitten or injured by the monkeys.

She said: 'When the AVA staff came at 6pm to collect the trapped monkey, the other monkeys in the garden started screeching. The AVA staff took the cage to their van, transferred the monkey to another cage, left our cage in the driveway and drove off.

'The monkeys then climbed along the rooftops of the neighbouring houses to follow the van.'

Mr Madhavan Kannan, head of AVA's Centre for Animal Welfare and Control, said: 'When the two AVA officers were collecting the trapped baby monkey, the other monkeys on the trees close by were behaving in a threatening manner. They did not attack our officers.'

He said the captured monkey was put down. It was not practical to relocate it elsewhere as it would be unable to survive on its own.

Madam Nayana said the monkeys have not returned to the house since.

She said: 'I think the capture of their young one scared them off. But we are more careful now and keep all the doors and windows closed unless absolutely necessary.'

Two other homes in the area have also encountered monkey problems.

One of the home-owners, who wanted to be known only as MrChong, said: 'The monkeys usually just climb into the garden and eat the fruits from the trees. They have never terrorised people before.'

How to avoid a monkey attack

THE Agri-food and Veterinary Authority said it caught 206 monkeys in Singapore last year, 15 of them in the Binjai Park area.

Two monkeys were caught in the area this year, including the baby in this incident.

Mr Madhavan Kannan of the AVA said the most common monkeys here are long-tailed macaques, which come from nearby forested areas.

He said trapped monkeys are put down because it is impractical to relocate them.

They would pose a problem while looking for food or get into fights with other monkey troops.

Here are some tips on how to keep monkeys away:

• Do not feed them as they will rely on humans for food
• Build fences with barbed wires around homes
• Close windows and doors while monkeys are around
• Spray water to frighten monkeys away if they get too close
• Close refuse bins tightly to prevent monkeys from foraging for food
• Do not keep fruits and other foodstuff in the open when monkeys are nearby
• If bitten by monkeys, wash the wound immediately with soap and water, and then get medical care.

Read more!

An island in Sengkang

Lee Hup Kheng, The New Paper 12 Mar 08;

YOU read right.

Singapore's first man-made floating island is scheduled to be ready in two years' time.

The island, which will be about half the size of a football field, will take pride of place in the new Punggol Reservoir.

It is part of the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) programme by PUB, the national water agency.

Drawing inspiration from a nearby fruit park which is being developed by National Parks Board (NParks), the project has a tutti-frutti theme, with a large mangosteen pavilion, lime seats and peer-through orange slices so that one can see the water and life brimming beneath.

Work will start this month. PUB recently awarded the public tender for this project to Marina Technology and Construction at $7.13million.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong launched the project at a ground-breaking ceremony at Sungei Punggol.

When completed in 2010, the island, which will be a floating wetland, will become a natural habitat for fishes and birds.

Mr Tan Nguan Sen, PUB's Director of Catchment and Waterways said: 'We are looking at creative ways to bring people closer to the water and the floating island at Sengkang is an example of that with its refreshing setting.'

People can get up close to water by walking over to the island through two types of bridges - a foot bridge on one bank or a floating boardwalk on the opposite bank.

MAKING A CONNECTION

The floating island will also connect the new Sengkang Park and Anchorvale Community Club, making it easy for people to enjoy the integrated facilities.

Said Mr Raymond Chua, Chairman of the Citizens' Consultative Committee of Sengkang West Constituency: 'The floating island will be an important link between the new facilities and with its interesting fruit theme, it will become an icon for Sengkang.'

PUB said that more ABC Waters projects are on the way, with those at Kallang River (along Bishan Park), Jurong Lake, Lower Seletar Reservoir and Pandan Reservoir earmarked to start this year.

The ABC Waters programme aims to transform Singapore's waterways from concrete longkangs and functional reservoirs to picturesque and vibrant streams, rivers, and lakes.

PUB hopes the programme will inspire people to take care of Singapore's precious water resources by using it wisely and keeping it clean.

Related article

Singapore Punggol River to be dammed next year to create reservoir
Punggol River set for big change
Work starts on $7.13m project to create reservoir park with man-made island by 2010
Tania Tan, Straits Times 10 Mar 08

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250,000 'green' bags sold by FairPrice

Reply from NTUC, Straits Times Forum 12 Mar 08;

WE REFER to Saturday's online letter,'Curbing plastic bag usage: FairPrice, please copy Ikea', by Mr Phillip Ang Keng Hong. As a socially responsible retailer, FairPrice has been very supportive of environmentally-friendly initiatives to reduce the use of plastic bags.

Indeed, we took the lead in being the first supermarket retailer in Singapore to reward customers for using their own bags when we launched the FairPrice Green Reward Scheme in July last year.

Under the scheme, FairPrice rewards shoppers with an instant 10-cent rebate for a minimum purchase of $10 if they use their own bags to pack in their purchases.

Since the launch, we have given out about $92,000 in rebates to customers. Using a conservative estimate of two plastic bags per shopper, the scheme would have saved more than 1.8 million plastic bags. We believe this is a testament to the effectiveness of the scheme in curbing the use of plastic bags.

In addition to the Green Reward Scheme, we also encourage Singaporeans to go green by participating in National Environment Agency's Bring Your Own Bag Day initiative. Since the launch in April last year, we have seen an increasing number of customers who bring their own shopping bags. We also make it easier for customers to use fewer plastic bags by retailing a range of recyclable bags at our stores. In fact, FairPrice has sold more than a quarter million reusable bags. We thank Mr Ang for his feedback. We will continue to support and promote environmentally-friendly initiatives where applicable.

Angela Soo
Deputy Director, Corporate Communications
NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd

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Ecoterrorism new security nightmare for US

Straits Times 12 Mar 08;

Attacks by radical Earth Liberation Front have led to costly damage

LONDON - ELVES are emerging as rivals to Islamic militants as a security nightmare in the United States following a recent spate of arson attacks.

Members of the Earth Liberation Front - or ELF for short - have been accused in recent days of causing US$7 million (S$9.7 million) damage by firebombing a luxury housing development in Seattle.

That, and the conviction last week of a 32-year-old violin teacher accused of destroying a University of Washington research facility, have raised concerns that the US could eventually face a greater threat from radical anti-global-warming activists than from radical Islamists, the Times of London reported yesterday.

While Al-Qaeda is notable for the devastation of the Sept 11 attacks, killing over 2,000 people and bringing down the World Trade Center, Islamic militant groups have not been able to follow up with more attacks, even on a smaller scale.

In contrast, according to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, ELF has been responsible for more than 1,200 criminal acts in the US, with the cost of its sabotage close to US$100 million, said the Times report.

Some estimates put the figure at twice that amount.

As early as 2002 the FBI named ELF the largest and most active US-based terrorist organisation, the Seattle Post Intelligencer reported.

ELF was formed in 1992 by disaffected members of Britain's law-abiding Earth First! group and is described as operating as a decentralised Al-Qaeda-style network.

It was designed to function under the same leaderless, hard-to-prosecute, resistance-style principles as the Animal Liberation Front in Britain, which also engaged in direct action and sabotage.

Within two years, shadowy ELF 'cells' - resembling those through which Al-Qaeda organises its attacks - had emerged in continental Europe and, by the mid-1990s, had spread to Canada and the US.

In 2003, during its last spate of attacks, the group - whose members are known unofficially as elves - organised a campaign of firebombings at a string of US West Coast SUV car dealerships, dubbed the 'Hummer bombings', and carried out a US$50 million arson attack on a new apartment building in San Diego.

Before then, in 1998, it carried out the US$12 million firebombing of the upmarket Vail ski resort in Colorado.

The FBI says that only luck has prevented anyone being killed in ELF attacks so far.

A string of prosecutions followed, but experts say the group may be on the rise again with the renewed focus on green issues and climate change.

The 'Street of Dreams' blaze last week in Seattle sends a message that the movement is not crippled, Professor Gary Perlstein, professor emeritus in administration of justice at Portland State University, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. It may just have taken time for new ELF activists to crop up.

The so-called Street of Dreams housing development - 48 luxury 'ecohomes' being built near wetlands in Seattle and close to a creek in which an endangered species of salmon is found - was designed to showcase green materials and technologies such as recycled wood and superinsulation. The homes were priced at up to nearly US$2 million each.

Last week, five were destroyed by fire in an attack blamed on ELF. Critics had opposed the wetlands location of the homes. A banner was found near the houses featuring an anti-development message along with the ELF initials.

'Built green? Nope. Black. McMansions in RCDs r not green. ELF,' the sign read.

RCD may be a reference to 'rural cluster developments', a type of project in which homes are built close together on rural land to preserve open space.

Last week also saw the conviction of an alleged ELF member who helped to destroy a US$7million University of Washington research facility in 2001.

'This is more than an environmental issue to them, this is an issue of faith,' said Prof Perlstein.

Read more!

Environmental risks matter for plantations

Matthew Phan, Business Times 12 Mar 08;

Investors, analysts - and, yes, the press too - should pay closer attention to plantation firms' environmental practices. Not only is this in favour of corporate social responsibility (CSR), it helps avoid risk too.

INVESTORS and analysts have tended to focus on the direction of crude palm oil prices when evaluating the long-term potential of the business. Few give space to environmental or operational concerns, unless it is a few lines under the Risks section of a report, if at all. But last week's shock report on First Resources shows how critical it is - for both corporations and the market - to pay more attention to such things.

After an Indonesian paper said the government would auction off three plantations (accounting for a quarter of the company's 2008 output) to pay a US$38.3 million corruption fine owed by Martias, the father of its managing director, Ciliandra Fangoso, its stock price dived. Citigroup analyst David Fergusson pointed out that Martias is not related to First Resources as a corporate entity, which he said faces very little 'material risk of expropriation' of assets. The worst that could happen is that First Resources pays off the fine - an insignificant amount for the firm, which is still worth some US$1.4 billion.

Nonetheless, the apparently immaterial risk has led to a material loss for investors, at least for now. What about other plantation stocks?

Little attention was paid when on Feb 4, Wilmar International said it had responded to complaints by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which oversees practices, such as in land clearing and forest conservation, in the sector. Even less attention was paid when the original report was published last July, a 100-page document by Friends of the Earth Netherlands and two Indonesian partners.

The report said three Wilmar subsidiaries operating in Sambas, West Kalimantan, and representing 7 per cent of Wilmar's land at the time, had cleared tropical forest land without obtaining the legally required permits and without first conducting independent assessments to check if the lands were considered High Conservation Value Forests (HCVF).

In response to the various complaints, Wilmar acknowledged that the cases cited 'went against Wilmar's procedures and policies' and were based on an 'irregularly issued IUP (plantation operation permit)'. 'We deeply regret to discover . . . that there were weaknesses in our system that overlooked the requirement of independent HCVF assessments in the three companies,' it also said.

Wilmar has stopped all clearing by the three firms since last November, and placed a moratorium on new plantation development until after Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) have been completed, it said. The firm 'will reappraise the list of accredited EIA consultants', and has engaged an independent consultant to conduct HCVF assessments on new projects, it said. According to Wilmar, the RSPO has accepted its response, though three items still need follow-up.

Another Indonesian firm, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), has not fared so well. On Jan 8, WWF Indonesia published a report on APP's practices in Riau and Jambi. Using map coordinates and photographs as evidence, it said APP had converted natural forest land 'without proper professional assessments or stakeholder consultation and sometimes even without proper licences'. In particular, APP converted hundreds of hectares for a logging highway that will split in two a large part of the forest, in order to link forest concessions to pulp mills, but without having met requirements under Indonesian law, the report said.

Following the report, Staples, the world's largest retailer of office products, cut APP off as a supplier, the Wall Street Journal reported in February.

SGX-listed Golden Agri Resources (GAR), like APP, is owned by the Sinar Mas Group. A separate entity, it says it has participated in the RSPO since February 2005, adopted a zero-burning land- clearing policy 15 years ago and obtained ISO 14001 certification for Environment Management Systems for its estates.

Environmental risk exists nonetheless. The RSPO is 'close to' but has not yet finalised a system for auditing palm oil mills and plantations, Rodney Taylor, director of WWF's Global Forest Programme, told BT last week. 'Until that system is up, companies should not pretend their RSPO membership is proof that they are producing or buying responsibly,' he said.

The system, to be rolled out in the next few months, will audit mills unit by unit and, over time, weed out members that do not meet standards, he said. But it won't happen overnight.

Meanwhile, investors, analysts - and, yes, the press too - should pay closer attention to plantation firms' environmental practices. Not only is this in favour of corporate social responsibility (CSR), it helps avoid risk too.

Read more!

Five nation, 13 river river dolphin census to help conservation on two continents

WWF website 10 Mar 08;

Santiago de Cali, Colombia: A milestone in the protection of the world's engangered river dolphins has been achieved with the successful completion of an ambitious 13 river, five nation census survey of South America's river dolphins.

The census, which took two years and recorded 3188 pink and gray dolphins in 3.600 km of rivers in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, was key to development of a standard methodology for assessing river dolphin populations and the threats they face.

“This census gives us a baseline population for these species and gives us an insight into the state of the ecosystems they inhabit,” said Fernando Trujillo PhD, the project's scientific leader.

Trujillo, Scientific Director of the Omacha Foundation and winner of the Whitley Award last year for his work with river dolphins, said “These results also provide the foundation for designing an evaluation and monitoring program for South American river dolphins.”

During the seven expeditions involved in the survey, training in the new methods was given to 18 professionals. The new methodology has also been certified by whale experts from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

“Although the situation for river dolphins in South America is not the same as for dolphins in Cambodia, for instance, both have areas where we need to raise the alarm against threats like pollution, indiscriminate hunting and the development of infrastructure megaprojects,” Trujillo said.

The survey was also notable as a highly successful exercise in co-operation. The census was financed by WWF Switzerland and WWF LAC’s Freshwater Program. Scientific leadership from the Omacha Foundation included WWF (Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Brazil), WCS (The Wildlife Conservation Society, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil), WDCS (Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society), La Salle Foundation (Venezuela) and Faunagua (Bolivia). The statistical reliability of the research was certified by the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) Distance Program, through Fernanda Márquez (co-author of the Distance Program and Director of WCS Brazil).

The survey also involved the co-operation of wildlife and other officials from Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia.

“This first river dolphin census has been an experience in networking, which, besides giving scientific results, has opened doors to consolidate WWF’s work around the world for these charismatic species,” said Saulo Usma, WWF Colombia’s Freshwater Coordinator. “In April this year, we will meet in Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia, with experts from various organizations to consolidate a South American river dolphin conservation strategy, which will be published as a IUCN Occasional Paper, and adapted to each country’s national action plan.”

Two initial projects are likely to emerge from this meeting. One is a campaign to reduce dolphin poisoning in Caballo Cocha (Lake) in Peru, where fishermen have been injecting agricultural chemicals into fish in attempts to reduce dolphin damage to catches and nets.

Some 25-30 dolphins have been discovered dead by poisoning in the lake in the last year. Fundacion Omacha is working to monitor the situation. Possible ways of reducing fisher-dolphin conflict include increasing dolphin-related tourism income and of assisting fishers to fillet, pack and freeze fish, allowing them to receive better returns than from whole, fresh and sometimes dolphin-damaged fish.

Also contemplated is a plan to reduce unsustainable fishing for mota (catfish) using dolphin as bait on the Colombia-Brazil-Peru triple border. Mota fishing has increased markedly as fishers explore the possibility of marketing it as the more desirable but rare from overfishing Bagre catfish.

Unfortunately for Amazon River dolphins however, Mota are scavengers and dolphins represent the largest available easily caught bait fish. Fundacion Omacha and WWF are working in Brazil and Colombia not just on educating fishers but perhaps more effectively seeking to inform consumers and the retail chain on the switching of fish and its consequences for dolphin populations.

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Tiger population critical, species at crossroads: WWF

Adam Cox, Reuters 11 Mar 08;

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The world's tiger population may have halved in the past quarter of a century and at least one of the remaining five sub-species is in danger of becoming extinct, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) experts said on Tuesday.

Chinese demand for tiger parts used in traditional medicines and habitat destruction are the two greatest perils facing the big cat, scientists and conservationists said.

Speaking in Sweden at a seminar featuring experts from Asia, Africa and Europe, they said the South China tiger could soon be extinct and the Sumatran tiger population was the next most threatened sub-species.

But WWF officials also said with proper measures, tigers could thrive and increase their numbers by thousands, and they believed the species would survive.

"In many ways the tiger stands at a crossroads between extinction and survival, and which path it takes is totally dependent on us," said Sujoy Banerjee, director of WWF India's species program.

The WWF's tiger coordinator based in Nepal, Bivash Pandav, said he believed there were some 3,500 tigers left in the world. That compared with rough estimates of about 5,000-7,500 in 1982.

Pandav said in Sumatra, Indonesia, the number of tigers had dwindled to about 400 and the situation was now critical as forest areas have been decimated.

In 1982 most of the Indonesian island's forest land was intact. By 2004 less than half of it was left, Pandev said.

He said estimates are that by 2050, based on current trends, more than 90 percent of its forests may be gone due to the logging industry, a potentially disastrous outcome for Sumatran tigers which depend on the forest for their survival.

Pandav said one way conservationists had combated forest destruction was to buy up land concessions from the government. "There is hope to save animals in this place," he said.

ONE TIGER A DAY

In India, the tiger population has dwindled to about 1,400, 60 percent fewer than in 2002. Some 40,000 tigers were thought to be in India at the start of the 20th century, but now an estimated one tiger per day is dying there.

Indian farmers, dependent on livestock for their survival, are one threat to tigers, Banerjee said. "Whenever there is human-tiger conflict, the ultimate loser is the tiger."

But additional pressure on governments to stop poaching, in particular from China, and other conservationist measures such as habitat protection could make a huge difference, he said.

"We can easily have 10,000 tigers, if everything goes as per our wish," said Pandav, adding that could be achieved in as little as 10 years.

"I firmly believe that tigers will continue to survive in certain pockets. They're not going to become extinct," he said.

Sarah Christie, a program manager for the Zoological Society of London, highlighted work being done by zoos to protect tigers, saying nearly a 10th of the money spent on tiger protection came from zoos. She said in the case of Sumatra, the total was 60 percent.

Christie said the world's focus on climate change offered a chance to help the tiger.

"Tigers are indicators of eco-system health, they are indicators of forest health. Saving the tiger is a test. If we pass, we get to keep the planet Earth."

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Climate change could snarl U.S. transport: study

Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters 11 Mar 08;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Flooded highways, railroads and airport runways are among the transportation snarls looming as the world's climate changes, and officials should plan with this in mind, a U.S. study says.

Modern transportation that runs on fossil fuel has been singled out as a key cause of climate change but the study released on Tuesday by the National Research Council said most transport also is vulnerable to the effects of global warming.

"We're not just concerned about gradual changes in temperatures," said Henry Schwartz, who chaired the panel that wrote the report. "We're mostly concerned about the extremes, the surprises that may come forth.

"We believe ... that the time to begin to address this issue as a routine part of design and operations is now," he told reporters in a telephone briefing.

Specifically, an expected rise in sea levels would hit roads, pipelines and airports in U.S. coastal areas where population is concentrated, Schwartz said.

"As seas rise, plus storm surges, the impacts (to transportation) can be much more severe and extend greater inland than anything we've experienced heretofore," he said.

Schwartz said some the busiest U.S. airports, including New York City's LaGuardia Airport, are in low-laying coastal zones that are vulnerable to flooding from rising seas.

In addition to sea-level rise -- projected to be 7 to 23 inches this century -- other effects of climate change also could hit transportation hard, the report said.

HOT DAYS AND STRONG STORMS

These include an increase in extremely hot days and heat waves, which would affect thermal expansion joints on bridges and cause more rapid degradation of pavement surfaces. Railroad tracks can become deformed in extreme heat and road asphalt can soften.

There also could be limits on constructive activity on transportation projects due to health and safety concerns.

Arctic warming is likely to thaw the permanently frozen ground called permafrost, which means transportation built on it would subside. This includes roads, rail beds, runway foundations, bridge supports and pipelines, such as those that carry petroleum products across Alaska.

On the plus side, the report said there could be a longer transport season and more ice-free ports in northern regions, and the long-sought Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific could become more available. Arctic ice melt opened this passage last year for the first time in memory.

The expected increase in intense precipitation could cause more weather-related delays and traffic disruptions, including the flooding of evacuation routes.

More frequent strong hurricanes also are expected to be a consequence of rising global temperatures, and these could cause more frequent interruptions of air service, more frequent emergency evacuations and more debris on roads and rail lines.

These strong storms increase the probability of infrastructure failures. Wave damage and storm surges could have an impact on harbors and ports.

(Editing by Bill Trott)

Global warming to affect transport
Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press Yahoo News 12 Mar 08;

Flooded roads and subways, deformed railroad tracks and weakened bridges may be the wave of the future with continuing global warming, a new study says.

Climate change will affect every type of transportation through rising sea levels, increased rainfall and surges from more intense storms, the National Research Council said in a report released Tuesday.

Complicating matters, people continue to move into coastal areas, creating the need for more roads and services in the most vulnerable regions, the report noted.

"The time has come for transportation professionals to acknowledge and confront the challenges posed by climate change and to incorporate the most current scientific knowledge into the planning of transportation systems," said Henry Schwartz Jr., past president and chairman of the engineering firm Sverdrup/Jacobs Civil Inc., and chairman of the committee that wrote the report.

The report cites five major areas of growing threat:

• More heat waves, requiring load limits at hot-weather or high-altitude airports and causing thermal expansion of bridge joints and rail track deformities.

• Rising sea levels and storm surges flooding coastal roadways, forcing evacuations, inundating airports and rail lines, flooding tunnels and eroding bridge bases.

• More rainstorms, delaying air and ground traffic, flooding tunnels and railways, and eroding road, bridge and pipeline supports.

• More frequent strong hurricanes, disrupting air and shipping service, blowing debris onto roads and damaging buildings.

• Rising arctic temperatures thawing permafrost, resulting in road, railway and airport runway subsidence and potential pipeline failures.

The nation's transportation system was built for local conditions based on historical weather data, but those data may no longer be reliable in the face of new weather extremes, the report warns.

The committee said proper preparation will be expensive and called on federal, state and local governments to increase consideration of climate change in transportation planning and construction.

The report notes, for example, that drier conditions are likely in the watersheds supplying the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes. The resulting lower water levels would reduce vessel shipping capacity, seriously impairing freight movements in the region, such as occurred during the drought of 1988.

Meanwhile, California heat waves are likely to increase wildfires that can destroy transportation infrastructure.

The outlook isn't all bad, however.

The report says marine transportation could benefit from more open seas in the Arctic, creating new and shorter shipping routes and reducing transport time and costs.

The report was prepared by the Transportation Research Board and the Division on Earth and Life Studies of the National Research Council. The groups are part of the National Academy of Sciences, an independent agency chartered by Congress to advise the government on scientific matters.

Sponsors of the study were the Transportation Research Board, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, the Transportation Department, the Transit Cooperative Research Program, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Read more!

Make solar lamps not war, says Nobel scientist

Reuters 11 Mar 08;

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - One billion people can get electricity for the first time for little more than the reported cost of one month's war in Iraq said Rajendra Pachauri, the head of a Nobel peace prize-winning U.N. panel of climate scientists.

Pachauri is supporting a campaign "lighting a billion lives," led by India's Energy and Resources Institute, to furnish people without access to the grid with electric lanterns powered by solar photovoltaic panels.

"Millions and millions of people do not see light after the sun goes down," he told a carbon market conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday.

Some 1.6 billion people worldwide do not have access to electricity.

Pachauri compared the $15 billion cost of providing solar-powered lights to a billion people with a reported cost of the U.S.-led military campaign in Iraq of $12 billion a month.

He described that perceived mis-match in resources as "one of the biggest tragedies that the world can be guilty of."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shared the Nobel peace prize last year with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore for raising awareness of the threat of climate change.

Read more!

Biofuels maker says airlines worried about survival, not CO2

Nichola Groom, Reuters 11 Mar 08;

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. airlines are too worried about survival to address the big impact their planes are having on the environment, the company behind the world's first commercial bio jet fuel plant said on Tuesday.

Solena Group, which is developing a facility in California to make renewable jet fuel from municipal waste, is banking on the European Union's proposal to cap airlines' emissions of greenhouse gases to drive demand for its product.

"The U.S. obviously is still struggling with CO2 issues, so I don't see the airlines making a big effort to buy this," Robert Do, Solena's chief executive, said in an interview. "Airlines are struggling to stay afloat and CO2 issues are not a big interest for them, except for a few leaders in the industry like Virgin."

Last month, a Virgin Atlantic jumbo jet flew from London to Amsterdam powered partly by biofuel. It was the world's first such commercial flight. Virgin founder Richard Branson called the flight "a vital breakthrough," and Solena's Do said Branson had already expressed interest in his product.

"Last week Sir Richard Branson made a statement to our partner, Rentech, that whatever we make they will buy it all," Do said.

Solena collects gases such as methane from decomposing municipal waste and liquefies it for use as jet fuel. Burning the fuel produces carbon emissions but the process of collecting and producing it stops greenhouse gases from the waste from entering the environment.

U.S. airlines trade group the Air Transport Association says on its Web site that it supports the development of alternative fuels, but believes that coal-to-liquid technology is most promising.

Do said coal-to-liquid fuels would decrease the industry's dependence on crude oil but would produce more greenhouse gases than petroleum-based fuel.

To drive demand from U.S. airlines, Do said that Washington, D.C.-based Solena would focus on making its product cheaper than jet fuel made from traditional fossil fuels. Already, he said, the company can produce bio jet fuel for $2 a gallon, while the current price for traditional jet fuel is about $3 a gallon.

Should the price of traditional jet fuel drop, however, Do wants federal subsidies to help make sure his product stays cost competitive.

"With additional tax incentives we will be able to make sure we are sustainable" even if the price of jet fuel drops sharply, he said.

Solena expects to begin construction on its $250 million plant in Gilroy, California in early 2009, but it won't begin producing jet fuel until 2011.

The plant, which is being built on the site of an existing landfill, is expected to produce 1,800 barrels of biofuel a day, 70 percent of which will be jet fuel. By comparison, U.S. airlines buy about 1.3 million barrels of jet fuel a day, while the U.S. Air Force buys 300,000 barrels a day.

"It's a drop in the bucket," Do said. "But obviously we have got to start somewhere."

(Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

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